Study found majority of COVID-19 cases in Ireland are linked to close contacts
DUBLIN: According to a report released on Wednesday by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), the large proportion of COVID-19 patients in Ireland are infected through contact.
Seven out of ten cases reported in the country in the last two weeks were caused by close contact with another patient, the study found.
The HPSC says that 5,618 cases were reported between May 25 and June 7. Of these, 70.10% were linked to close contacts with COVID-19 patients. In about 5% of cases, the source of the infection is unclear and is considered a community transmission. About 3.3% of cases are travel-related, and 6.1% are currently being investigated.
Yesterday, the Department of Health confirmed 398 new cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
Professor Philip Nolan said the number of cases per day, the number of patients in the hospital and the number of patients in the intensive care are declining. There have been nine admissions to ICU in the past two weeks, he said.
Prof Nolan expressed serious concern about the virus incidence rate in Limerick, but said that public health interventions appear to be bringing the situation under control. At the same time, he said, the number of cases in other counties across the state is declining.
“If we follow public health advice (self-isolate & get a test if symptomatic, meet outdoors, avoid crowded spaces, distance, masks, hygiene, ventilation) while we protect the wider population by vaccination, we can contain and then suppress the disease in the coming weeks,” he said.
Kindly click the link below to join WhatsApp group chat to get important news and breaking news from Irish Samachar
Comments are closed.